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Starting a website that will custom build computers for you. For the first few months, there will be very little customization available probably and also, few models to choose from. This is because the startup costs are very high, even to carry a limited amount of hardware on hand. I would appreciate all your feedback on what you look for when buying a custombuilt/prebuilt PC online. I will list what we are comtemplating. Any suggestions or even example sites are wanted!

1] 6 Basic Models to choose from which may be customized further. OFFICE, SCHOOL, MEDIA, GAMER, BUDGET, TOP OF THE LINE. I believe these will cover all the major markets, let me know if I am missing something2] From the above models you will be able to customize everything.3] Pictures and explanations available for each peice of hardware. So you know what you are getting and what exactly it does. Would you want benchmarks?4] Preinstalled OS, Office Suite, Antivirus. You can also choose to have none of this installed. Oses will be all MS OSes and Linux Distros.5] Systems can have option (at no cost) of running for 24-48hrs before shipment. To further guarantee no surprises will occur. According to A+, first 48hrs a computer is up and running, tend to be very telling.6] Warrranty for 1yr no charge. Also free online/phone tech support 8hrs,5days.7] Optional extended warrantees and 24/7 tech support at a low reasonable cost.8] Later on, send in a design, and we will laser cut case. Would ppl be interested in this one? Any other BIG modding type things that people desire?9] Shipment in 3-5 days. This is time limit for big companies even. We could possibly offer 24hrs for certain models. But sure ppl would rather have 24-48hrs testing time before shipment.10] Online job notice. You get emails after order is shipped. Can check after website to see if system pending, in building process, in testing process(and time left), and when shipped (+tracking number)11] Not alot of places do this I don't believe, but a courtesy call after arrival to verify all is ok.12] ##-point inspection will be listed so we know you can be sure your computer is fully functional.

Now, you will notice alot of this isn't technical. With the amount of custom/pre sites on the net, I believe support and reliability comes directly after costs. So let me know of any suggestions tech-wise, service-wise, etc.

If there is one thing out there that really sells to you, or that you would like to see out there, let me know. This will be up in a few months, any feedback that is incorporated into site, will result in you being offered discounted, if not free, hardware/system.

EDIT 1Though of some more things:

13] Auto-Restore (insert CD/DVD and have system back to where it was when received (drivers, config, software,etc) with a few clicks.14] Auto-Update (don't know enough coding to do this myself, but for now, could email individuals when new drivers for system released and direct link in email to downloads. wouldn't be too tough to have a n app do this on their computer @ startup)15] Documentation. Would include a diagram on complete installation from opening box to booting into OS.16] Referrals can result in 50$ off your next system per referral or something similar. After all, for small companies, word-of-mouth would be the cheapest and most effective advertising.

Autoupdate may be free or subscription based depending on what type you get perhaps. Autorestore can cost 20 dollars and that includes ability to receive updated drivers on a CD monthly or something like that. Could include in the util the tech support software to contact a rep. Similar to an IRC client pretty much

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Just buy a small dremel, then you can customize cases, they cost anywhere from $20-$100, the more expencive the better quality.

Actually, your shipping time is faster than most "big companies" for my laptop it took about a month.

It all in all sounds kind of cool, perhaps we can have a UGN System ... A dedication to your god, err i mean, to your hero

I would go the dremmel route, but I believe we have a laser cutter at our disposal. Hmm, but only in one of our locations, so will have to check out the dremmel. Some ppl live and die by those things

This all sounds like alot and will take alot of planning, but as of now, I think it will be easier and benefit from the fact we will be a smaller company.

As for a UGN system, maybe a linux or something that comes hardened already or a small hardware firewall box, bearing the UGN logo, etc

Circuit City and other big companies donít include a windows (OS) CD with the system anymore, my guess is they get major discounts for not including the cd so people cant easily make copies of windows, Will you be doing this?

Yeah, those QuickRestore disks that Compaq and HP use blow my nuts. Since you're doin all this custom, I figure you'll just install Windows and whatever other software and package those CDs along with it. Be sure to do that, and maybe offer a utilities disk that has recovery utilities on it. Also, I didn't see anything about a warranty, that's an absolute necessity. I have no clue how you'd do it, but it's somethin you need to figure out. Lastly, don't offer the burn in (running it for 48 hours) as an option. Make that a standard feature that people can specifically request to not have, if they need the system really quickly. It's really important for the burn in, and it should be something you do unless you are specifically instructed not to.

I would totally agree on the burn in. It would be an option selected by default and only if they select 24hr turn around, will they not have the burn in, but it would warn them on the page of that.

And for the QuickRestore, what makes those other ones suck? J/C so we don't do the same.

Thanks Perg

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Circuit City and other big companies donít include a windows (OS) CD with the system anymore, my guess is they get major discounts for not including the cd so people cant easily make copies of windows,Will you be doing this?

Chem - Er, haven't got a puter in a while. Wth do they give you then? Just a restore disk? I am pretty sure we would include all software on a CD. I mean you paying for it, you entitled to it.

I got a "Dell recovery CD" when I bought my dell. It will do everything most disc's do, except it won't install on anything other thana dell. I dunno what other limits it has as it is ME and I have never actually ysed it. About 1 week was all I could take of that steaming pile of doshit they call an OS.

And so on, and what this does is for each of these we will add so much harddrive space, addons, RAM, etc. So you can pick what things you want to be able to do and the system specs will change accordingly. I haven't seen this anyone really, and I think it will soften the customPC learning curve even more, NOW they won't even need to worry about what hardware requirements. Of course, they can see with a click what each option adds hardware wise and still review the system specs once reconfigured for the new settings they choose

Sounds good man, I am glad you are calling them things like Gamer and Budget because I am sick of seeing Hive Mind and Aurora and Ultrasuper or something at all the custom pc sites.

I saw a few custom pc sites, but I don't remember them now. They didn't have anything on them that Alienware didn't do so it doesn't matter. Just make sure your website does NOT look like [censored] (www.ibuypower.com). Are you gonna have stickers made that go on the case? Like a ULTRAUBER PC badge or something?

kk, we are going public with our business here soon. Probably grand opening July 4th or around there. We also have a booth at the fair. Was going to go with custom computers, then PC support. I just got notice that we could get computer parts from a cheap company, now at their wholesale price. Which means I can build a puter for incredibily cheap. So unfortunately, our PC Support is onlyin the surrounding area, but I will try to add any interested UGN members, to custom built PCs at the price of buliding and shipping. More news coming soon, as it gets finalized.

Sorry, I haven't seen this, but you asked why the restore disks suck. They don't allow you to use them on any machines besides the one that it comes with, and if there are any hardware differences, it won't work either. My brother's machine had gotten [censored] up, so we used the restore disk on it. I had put in a newer video card along the line though, and it said that the hardware configuration didn't match, so it wouldn't install. Fortunately I had saved the card, so I was able to revert to the original hardware config (taking out an extra drive and an Audigy card as well) and got it to install. That's just problematic. Also it installs everything as a huge bundle, so any extra bullshit that you don't want gets installed. Of course they've got deals with other big companies, so that's why, but I hate that. You also can't install stuff individually, which I can't stand. If some program is messing up, I want to just install that. With the restore disks, if one program gets screwed up, you have to go buy a copy or redo your whole system.

Another suggestion I have is after you do the burn in, install all the software, and download all the updates and fixes and everything. I really hate having to do that after buying a new system. Of course by the time it ships, there will be more (if it's Windows *snicker*) but you can reduce the number of updates required considerably. That's especially helpful for people on dial-up. I'd also recommend making something like a restore disk, using some kind of disk imaging program, to restore the system to its original state with all the software that came with it, along with the updates. As much as I said I hate restore disks, that's because that's all OEMs distribute. Make sure to include the original software disks and I'll buy from you forever

Jon, gimme a quote on a system, all i need is the ram, mobo, case, video card, sound card... I use my own [censored] on DVD/RW and ish so i'd be interested in seeing what you can do and prices... if good we'll talk ..

Cool idea jon! I might buy a computer from you if I ever save up enough money...anyway, I have a suggestion: Well, It's cool your going to have generalized software add-ons so people can customize even more, but what about software requests? For instance, I could request Nero and Kazaa to come installed with my PC. Would this ever fly?

::sits back:: umm a mobo capable of handling an AMD Athlon 2600+, DDR333 ram, and a 2x/4x AGP slot. A full tower case (white). I'd want a 64 bit video card at minimum. I'd want about 512 meg of DDR333(can be substituted for 266). must have a fax modem and a 10/100 network card. other than that, use yoru immagination...

Tell me what you are interested in. The easiest way to do this is if I can get a few of you to actually have the specs you want, and I can get the stuff all at once. So I can hopefully knock a lil more off the price. Granted 5-10 orders won't exactly get a bulk discount, but might help a little.

as of now fleshy has 4 websites to do. I will be assisting her on some of those if she needs to. She was working two jobs and will soon be again. I have a contract job for the next 2 weeks. I am in process of finding car, apartment, more work, and getting business started.

My point... we don't have a site yet and by how it is looking, it may very well be a few months until the custom PC part of it is even up

I am looking towards services with far less overhead, to begin with. This offer with UGN is just for UGN for now and it not a public offering, so their is no public website even cloes to being done yet. Sry

jonathon's cousin's wife is starting up a marketing agency. one of the partners messed up and bought a few domain names. they don't want them anymore and are selling them. it would be dsw.com, dsw.net and dsw.org. she also has a kickass logo made that would go with it. it was supposed to be for a graphics/digital media site. so if any of you are interested, let me or jonathon know. she's selling all 3 domain names and the logo for $200.

"when you look around, you can't tell me honestly you're happy with what you see"

k, i have exact prices now from the main supplier. So here we go. I will try to get some system orders in the next few months. However, beings we have no capital, if you trust me, please send me specs to [edited] and I will give you a reply for an exact quote. We can work out payment from there. If you wish to have the system before paying, that is fine too. I am just leary of building systems and then being out the cash for them if someone changes their minds.

So if you want a new PC, let me know because I will be placing my initial parts order in about 3 weeks.

OK. It was pushed back for a long time, but we are now opening a online computer store w/ various other parties. We expect to be online in 2-3 weeks at the most. I am installing the OSCommerce site tonight and tomorrow, so we will have that up very soon and I will provide the URL. We are still thinking of promotional ideas for various site users such as UGN. If you have any more suggestions or have a venue where we may advertise, please drop a line to info@techieplus.net.

Also, the store will be for ordering parts only. We expect to have very lower prices, even lower than NewEgg. However, these will not be custom-built. You can have them custom built by request, but for now it is simply the parts. So you DIYers can build a high-end system @ a budget price.

Our store is now up and running. We are currently working the bugs out and adding our inventory (Which will take a while for the initial inventory + getting used to this wonderful piece of software). We are looking for trustworthy ppl to register and play around w/ the site to see if you get any error messages or any errors in our configuration. And to just let us know what you think. Again, contact info@techieplus.net.

I'm not sure how you plan on doing this but I think a good idea would be to have the basic models you were talking about and once you select one to be able to add or upgrade/downgrade every part of the system. Also, having side-by-side comparisons of the basic model and your customized model with the price difference displayed would be nice. Something like this:

Other ideas:-Maybe give trade in option to deduct a little of the price in exchange for old computers (1-2 years) which can be refurbished and sold in other markets or taken apart for pieces.

-Offer a free periodic security scan for your customers who buy a 3 year warranty. This will maybe get more people to buy the warranty. Then you can run tools such as Nessus just to uncover the most obvious holes and tell them how to fix this. an individual scan an written report should not take more then 25-30 minutes to an hour. If you are lookin for people to help with this just holla.

-On purchase offer a buy-back option to make sure those customers come back again to do business with you. There is no business, like repeat business. The buy-back option can be either monetary or in the form of an discount for the next purchase.

-Give discounts for frequent buyers. For example: after spending $1,000, they get an $100 credit.

-Rate each system or use websites do that kind of stuff. When somebody is putting together a PC and it's rating is low, he might be tempted to spend a little more jus to get a higher rating. (geeks are so predictable)

- Have a forum where people can post the systems they bought for you and how satisfied they are.

-Have articles on your website the deal with things such an over-clocking, BIOS, and how to put together a PC. If you have informational content on the site, people will come there to read an learn or talk to other people (via chat or board) and maybe later on they might come back to buy a system from you. If you have no content only those people that know exactly what they want an that were refered to you for some other place will do business with you.

-Come up with a advertizing strategy that has one central theme and one catchy logo and/or company moto. "If we build it, you will cum." (ok, bad example)

-when advertizing, use price of systems without OS preinstalled to make it as low as possible.

Cases:

Translucent Cases (see-through for idiots)

Unique colors and/or design for each model

blah blah blah, I can't type anymore. maybe I should start my own business, I got enough ideas for it. j/k, good luck with everything jon, if you need to ask me a question about any of the ideas i gave you, email me at damienak1@hotmail.com. peace.